The workplace has traditionally been a dangerous place. Very early in mankind's history perils emanated from the place and type of work they performed. Long before industrialization Mikkel Boedker Youth Jersey , men mined precious metals, gems and fuel in the form of peat and coal hidden beneath the earth's surface. Extracting these materials brought with it the risk of cave-ins and being buried alive. Moreover, the quest for the most basic of all life giving substances, water, could also end in sudden death or severe injury as well shafts were dug in the soft earth.
Industrialization brought with it new and more interactive dangers to workers. Machinery in factories, on farms and aboard steamships maimed and killed with here-to-for unprecedented regularity. By the 1800's Tim Heed Youth Jersey , campaigns were already underway throughout the rapidly industrializing world to introduce safety regulation and restrictions on child labor into the public consciousness, amidst the rapid growth of potentially deadly machinery. However, it was not until the mid and even later 20th century that many of these measures found full legal and societal support in the developed world. To this day, many parts of the developing world still do not protect their workers, including children, from even the most blatant workplace dangers.
Nor have machinery and type of work posed the only hazards. Workplace violence Melker Karlsson Youth Jersey , whether instigated by striking workers seeking collective representation or employers attempting to curtail the efforts of "hotheads" and labor organizers have frequently ignited violence in the workplace both for those involved as well as those who desired to distance themselves from the strife. Arson, sabotage, intimidation, threats, beatings and even killings have too often been the weapons of choice to both sides of employment disagreements. Add to this the mayhem wrought by anarchists, radical political factions Kevin Labanc Youth Jersey , competitors and, yes, guerillas and terrorists. The workplace has frequently been a very dangerous place, a fact we often tend to overlook. The need for workplace safety is not new.
Accepting Reality: The first Step to Security
Today, we face a new and in some ways, much more complex and potentially far more dangerous scenario. Whether in the form of a deranged current or former employee armed with automatic weapons or terrorists with their meticulously planned and well funded covert operations Justin Braun Youth Jersey , either attack can be just as surprising and the carnage every bit as real and terrifying. To counter these threats, along with the full spectrum of more insidious, if less spectacular dangers, we must understand and acknowledge the dangers as well as establish appropriate preventative responses. We must also accept that we can never adequately guard against every eventuality. To believe that we can make the workplace completely "safe" is to deny reality. There will always be insufficient resources available to be committed for security purposes to make this dream possible. Furthermore, given the freedoms, privacy and civil liberties we so cherish Chris Tierney Youth Jersey , people today will not accept the regimen of restrictive and totalitarian measures necessary for any attempt to ensure absolute security. In fact, even if such measures could be implemented, they would undoubtedly trigger a new round of violence, on the part of those incensed by such invasive tyranny.
Given the fact that we cannot guarantee freedom from any and all acts of violence, sabotage and other misdeeds, the question becomes how are we to ensure the greatest possible measure of workplace safety and security for both our employees and the organization? To properly respond to this question we must rethink our fundamental attitudes toward security. What are the primary threats? How far does the organization's responsibility extend? It is certain that some trial lawyers seeking massive damage awards for the families of airline victims will attempt to assert that the carriers bear greater responsibility for failure to properly screen passengers prior to the September 11th attacks. However Tomas Hertl Youth Jersey , do the airlines have an obligation to go beyond federally mandated standards? And if so, at what point would these same lawyers argue that the airlines interfere with passenger rights of privacy and freedom from racial or ethnic profiling?
We Must First Radically Change Our Thinking
Today, safety and security must no longer be viewed as add on services, afterthoughts to the way we operate. Instead, we must think strategically as to how these goals are to become pervasive in all of our planning and operations scenarios. For example, in those organizations that employ security services Martin Jones Youth Jersey , whether employees or contractor staff, to what management level is the decision making responsibility for the overall scope of these services delegated? Is this and other safety and security functions included in the strategic planning activities of the executive leadership? Probably not, unless the facility in question is a nuclear power plant and recent news reports indicate that even some of those corporations did not give this issue the strategic weight that it should be accorded.
Safety and security are not band-aids to be applied at a very junior level of the organization. Instead, every executive should include these considerations as important elements of their daily decision making processes. I venture that if you are in a public company, every significant decision is weighed beforehand at least in part by what the response will be from the analysts and shareholders. Likewise, any major new corporate initiative is reviewed by the legal department before public announcement. But who with the requisite knowledge and experience "speaks" at the executive level to your organization's specific concerns of safety and security? In most organizations Joonas Donskoi Youth Jersey , no one!